We’ve been around the world and boy are our arms tired. What did we learn this year, nerds?
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
____
Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion is proud to be part of the Amplify Podcast Network.
We’ve been around the world and boy are our arms tired. What did we learn this year, nerds?
As always, be sure to visit keepingit101.com for full show notes, homework, transcripts, & more!
____
Keeping It 101: A Killjoy's Introduction to Religion is proud to be part of the Amplify Podcast Network.
This is Keeping It 101, a killjoy's introduction to religion podcast. In 2021-2022, our work is made possible through a Public Humanities Fellowship from the University of Vermont's Humanities Center. We are grateful to live, teach, and record on the current, ancestral, and unceded lands of the Abenaki, Wabenaki, and Aucocisco peoples. As always, you can find material ways to support indigenous communities on our website.
Megan Goodwin:What is up, nerds? Hi, hello, I am Megan Goodwin, and I am a scholar of American religions, race, and
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Hi, hello. I'm Ilyse Morgenstein gender. Fuerst, an historian of religion, Islam, race and racialization, and South Asia. Well, Megan, this is it!! We'll hit the heights. And, OH! What heights we'll hit! *sing songy* On with the show, this is it!
Megan Goodwin:*chuckles* I suppose to that I say... what's up, Doc?
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Not too much, actually. Just sittin' back, MARVELING at our 17th episode this season of HISTORY OF THE WORLD (RELIGIONS) PART ONE.
Megan Goodwin:Yeah, we sure did the thing, didn't we?
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:We really did. But you know what?
Megan Goodwin:Mmm what?
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:I'm-- I'm a little nervous... if the nerds have gotten the joke,
Megan Goodwin:"The" joke...*laughing* w-which joke? I like to-- I like to think we tell a LOT of jokes on this pod.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Well, that's fair. But I'm wondering if they've gotten why you and I framed our world religions season within Mel Brook's classic 1981 film, History of the World, Part One.
Megan Goodwin:Hmm. I suspect you are going to tell us! So... it's good to be the king! Uhhh, queen. Let's hit the lesson plan. *musical tune* IRMF, please. I beg of you. Tell us why Mel Brooks, and what are we doing today?
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:I'm so glad you asked! Here's the thing. I am, as you know, in my deepest soul-- like, next to the part of my soul that's sports-- the deeper part, the truest self... I'm a failed comedian. Probably in the flavor of borscht.
Megan Goodwin:Yeah, probably.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Failed because I, for some ungodly reason, thought that writing jokes, or TV shows, or whatever my wee heart dreamt was so hard to break into that my real focus should be on either law school or academia. And I didn't want to be just another tristate Jewish lawyer, and you've seen me get, um, litigious, and it is GOOD to keep that bitch locked up.
Megan Goodwin:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Academia, after all that, seemed, um, easier. Safer. More... stable.
Megan Goodwin:*snorts* Lol, sob. Well, THAT is a joke that is on ALL of us. WAMP, as they say, wamp.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:OH yeah. No, like, sad trombone. It is absolutely a joke on all of us. But like, why I felt this way, that, like, I couldn't POSSIBLY do comedy writing or TV shows as I had always thought I might-- why writing these scripts, these podcast scripts give me joy-- is in part because of the comedians (and I will name it: Jewish comedians) whose storytelling was equal parts silly, critical, joyful, and thought-provoking!
Megan Goodwin:Mhm, mhm. That does sound remarkably on brand for you. Yes.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:So, why this movie? Why this 40-year old movie as a frame? So glad you asked. That's easy. Mel Brooks is known in films for studying a whole genre and then satirizing it. So, if you don't believe me, go watch Young Frankenstein, which is a perfect setup of early Hollywood monster movies. Blazing Saddles has its issues, in terms of, like, racial representation, but it also has some heavy critique of Westerns that actually knows its stuff, and is kind of spot on on how racist they can be. Hell, even Silent Movie-- a literal, like, literal silent movie. there is only one word in the entire movie-- shows that the writers understood their genre, their text, inside and out. And LEST we forget, I still think Spaceballs is superior to the movie that it satirizes.
Megan Goodwin:I am sure, in my heart of hearts, that Mel Brooks knows how flotillas work.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:He does! He 100% does.
Megan Goodwin:Mhm, mhm. Kay.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:But unlike THOSE movies--
Megan Goodwin:Cause of being in the Navy!
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Yeah, he was!
Megan Goodwin:I learned that.*giggles*
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Indeed. Unlike those movies, History of the World Part One is basically a series of sketches about how... about history! About how power works and why history is ridiculous. And as I say often, one of the reasons I LOVE being an historian is that you literally cannot make this shit up. If you wrote fiction with the twists and turns in actual historical events, an editor would rightly tell you it's too much, too unbelievable, you'll lose the audience... But that's the mess that *I* want to live in. The historical mess.
Megan Goodwin:*chuckles* I also love Mel, although, not as much as you/I'm not sure that it is possible for anyone to love Mel Brooks the way that you love him, and I really love this movie. This was one that sits in my brain like Monty Python in, like, a very specific high school mode of realizing comedy could be more than I had imagined it to be. So like, joyful, singing, dancing, broadway review of the Spanish Inquisition-- which, I'm in Catholic school, as you'll remember, so like, there are dancing nuns! What is a-happenin'? Complete with chained-up Jackie Mason-- Rabbi turned comedian-- rhyming about being forcibly imprisoned because he's a Jew?? It is a masterclass in making your audience laugh, and sing and dance, while also literally confronting brutal murder.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Uh huh. Uh huh.
Megan Goodwin:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I also know that you love the shit show of history. And bless. But ALSO also, I know that the reason we think HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART ONE is the most perfect joke for our work on HISTORY OF THE WORLD RELIGIONS is basically every single scene in this movie, uh, History of the World-- you'll never guess, nerds-- is about religion. Dun, dun, dun!
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Yeah. I know, shocking zero people. But it really is! It's almost as if Mel Brooks-- nay Melvin Kaminsky-- a smart, Brooklyn Jewish boy, understands that religion is one of the most powerful forces in the world, and that one could not possibly talk about the world, its history, or its inhabitants without it. Hmm! Imagine that!
Megan Goodwin:Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It almost seems like the history
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Huh. Imagine that! of much of the world has to do with religion! And if we're not thinking about religion, we are not studying history in its full
Megan Goodwin:I-I can and have. So, today, let's talk about that complexity. Hmm. Hmm. framework. Let's continue to name that religion is in the floorboards-- as you like to say, Ilyse, and I love it because it's very, like, Tell-Tale Heart-- and let's talk about/recap how the history of the world just doesn't make sense unless it's the history of the world religions. So, 101 on today-- *clicks tongue* --this is the section where we do professor work. Okay. In Mel Brooks History of the World Part 1, there are two gags. The first is, there was no part two-- uh, though apparently, this winter part 2 was confirmed to be in production by a slew of now-established-younger-than-Mel's-90s comedians, like Wanda Sykes and Nick Kroll. Uh, I would like to think that we summoned this into being?
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Oh, yeah no. Like, I would like to take Jewish witchy credit for this.
Megan Goodwin:Yeah! 100%. Good job us. *softly* We should think about what we want to summon next. Anyway! The gag in 1981
is:history is ongoing, we'll say there's part 1, but there's never a part 2!
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Okay, got it. And let me hit our nerds over the head with meaning. We have said some stuff about how the world religions paradigm influences folks and that it is ongoing, but we are not-- we are also, you and I, not invested in a part 2. We are not-- spoilers-- doing part 2 next season. But we are insinuating, like Mel himself, that this shit is unfinished. There are sequels to be had, baby! But they're not for us to write. Okay. You said there were two gags. What's the second one?!
Megan Goodwin:Okay. So if the first gag is that history is ongoing, the second gag is, to reiterate, that power is how history telling works, and power is never far off from religion(let's be clear-- the religion most skewered by Mel? Definitely Christianity, because religion is imperial and white Christians from Europe and America have dominated the way we tell world history!)
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Which, frankly, is as good a segue to leave my childhood hero behind as any. Let's make our jokey themes explicit, shall we?
Megan Goodwin:Sure! I love a transparent pedagogy. But also, please promise me that you'll tell the nerds how obstinately-- and, like, I want to say deliberately?--
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Oh, yeah.
Megan Goodwin:--you failed a Hebrew school assignment because you wanted to do a book report on your hero, Mel Brooks, as a Jewish hero, and they would not let you.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Yeah, no, later. We'll get to it later. Maybe if you're good. Like if you're good, like, as a treat. We can delve into my horrifying childhood of willfulness.
Megan Goodwin:*laughs* I can have little a primary source as a treat. Good. Fine, professionalism, etc. Our HISTORY OF THE WORLD (RELIGIONS) PART 1 has, at least to my mind, done a couple of things. So, we've stated in every single episode that religion is imperial. That the study of religion, the implementation of religion as a label that everyone should have the world over-- the religioning of the world is a product of imperialism and, specifically, white EuroAmerican Christian imperialism.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Yeah, yeah. And jokes aside, let's hang with this one for a minute."World religions" is an idea. The idea that every group, in all places, has had a religious worldview or orientation is one that develops; it wasn't always a given, this idea, and most people in most places historically didn't walk around calling their systems"religion."
Megan Goodwin:Yeah, no.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Nor would they have necessarily made religion something separate from, say, statecraft, or philosophy, or community, or even just, like, how things work.
Megan Goodwin:Mhm.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:We have said this so many times! Maybe our nerds are sick of it. But, sorry, it bears repeating: world religions is an IDEA, and it is one that gains popularity-- and games hegemony-- only, ONLY because of European expansion and domination. That's it.
Megan Goodwin:Yeah. Yeah, period! The end. So, let me say that more slowly-- my specialty-- and call back to our first episode of this very long season, because you know I can't resist a call back!
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:I know you can't!
Megan Goodwin:*laughs* Call back queen. We want to talk about world religions in a way that is historically honest. And to do that-- like our seasonal muses pointed out-- we can only, only talk about power. So, here are our take homes for this
whole ass season. Number one:the framework-- why we call things religions-- was popularized during the height of European and (later) American imperialism, and operates from the starting point that Christianity (and especially mainstream white Protestantism) is not only an inherent good-- it is inherently above all else. It is the end of the religion development timeline. Number two: world religions are world, are global, in relationship to-- dun, dun, dun-- Christians, and especially white, Protestant, Westo-Euro Christians. Western-- Westo is not a thing. Wh-- maybe it is now. White, Protesto, Westo, Euro... Christos.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:*laughs*
Megan Goodwin:It's time for this season to end. *laughing*
Number three:how a religion relates to Christianity matters for how that religion "ranks" or even gets represented at all in a world religions model.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Yeah, yeah. We've seen these things play out all season! We talked about how the framework of world religions has meant that things without names-- things that feel too complex or complicated, or that don't neatly fit-- get ignored or excised entirely.
Megan Goodwin:Yeah, which is its own kind of violence. It is why we began the season with African Diasporic Religions and Indigenous religions. Both of those GINORMOUS categories demonstrate how EuroAmerican Christian definitions of religion dominate. Again, we only have "African Diasporic Religions" as a category because of the transatlantic slave trade. Again, period, the end. Indigenous religions didn't start out as a benevolent category, either-- it was a way to describe, quote, unquote,"heathens" among other epithets, and usually within the universe where it was "civilizational" and governmental obligation to convert folks. Often forcibly.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Mhm.
Megan Goodwin:Yeah. So world religions, here, is a tricky devil. It did violence to these multiplicitous communities, like theoretical violence, and physical violence, and sexual violence, and genocidal violence, and "world religions" also-- because people are complicated and messy-- "world religions" also create spaces for those communities to articulate themselves today in liberatory, creative-- in, just, incredible ways.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Yeah! So, we started there-- in Indigenous religions and African Diasporic Religions-- for two reasons. We purposely wanted to subvert the way "world religions" almost automatically conjures the list of the
so-called Big 5:Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. We also wanted to make it abundantly clear that there is zero, ZERO way to think about this framework apart from imperialism, and, specifically, Christian imperialism.
Megan Goodwin:Yeah. Man, I have to say, at this point in the semester, it sounds so weird to me to have Judaism in a Big 5 because I know it is so tiny, and we talked on our Judaism episode about the fact that it only gets to be big because it's in close proximity-- or it is imagined to be in close proximity-- to Christianity.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Absolutely.
Megan Goodwin:What a mess. Okay. But we ALSO talked about how the rules are made up and the points don't matter. So, when we talked about Sikhi, we pointed out that-- how it is anything but "minor" in terms of size! It's huge! It's the world's 5th largest religion! It should be on a Big 5! That is math! And yet-- and it, like, it fits within the rules for being a major world religion! It has a central sacred text, it has an identifiable and male founder-- like, it's all there. And then when we talk about Judaism, we talked about how, despite being a teeny tiny religion, it has always has a slot of the world religions paradigm-- but only, again, because it's imagined to be close to, leading to Christianity. And when we talked about Islam, we had to confront that it's been demonized nearly from the jump because it doesn't fit into what Orientalists and colonizers expect or want. So, like, even inclusion in the model isn't necessarily a good thing, either.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Yeah, absolutely! And when we talked about Buddhism, we had to talk about what Orientalist, European scholars said-- that this, Buddhism, was a textual religion-- versus how Buddhists actually practice Buddhism, which is not really rooted in text a lot of the time.
Megan Goodwin:Yeah, that's whack.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Similarly, when we talked about Hindu traditions, we had to confront how the direct rule of South Asia by racist colonizers fundamentally influences how that religion is practiced, even if that's not the ONLY story we should or could tell about Hindu traditions, either historically or contemporarily.
Megan Goodwin:Yeah, man. And I learned that Hinduism is so complicated that, like, even calling it *a* Hinduism is grossly inaccurate and part of imperialist history. I feel like I learned a lot this season! Good job, us. And all along the way, we've been really clear that we're not super interested in removing agency. The way that we talk about world religions, not just as, like, egghead academics, but, like, how religion shows up in schools and hospitals, what counts is a bank holiday in your country, foreign policy, rules for visas, what food you can buy and when, whether a country will take you in if you've been invaded by Russia, for example, or, I don't know, the US-- the way world religions weasels itself into our lives is absolutely about imperialism, and it is ALSO about how folks make sense of themselves within and against and through this system.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Yeah. Well put, Goodwin.
Megan Goodwin:Hey, thanks. You wrote it.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:*laughs* Jews didn't start calling themselves Jews, right?
Megan Goodwin:Yeah.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Like it's not a name we gave ourselves. It is, however, what we call ourselves, and acting as if those names-- this, this, like-- the languages that stem from the ghettoization of Jews, all of that culture-- if we act as if that is somehow fruit of the poison tree, that's also violence. So, we are 100% not trying to say that world religions is bad and we need to throw it out. But we ARE saying we need to figure out why it's bad, AND see how people are making... p-pies from the fruit of this tree? I don't know, I lost the tree metaphor.
Megan Goodwin:*chuckles* I-- no, I appreciate it. Yeah, this is good. So, alright. I guess, then, our WHOLE point this
season has been:we are stuck with world religions. We just are. Even if that makes both of us deeply, horribly uncomfortable, and even if we both see and understand that world religions is just embedded within racism, and Orientalism, and imperialism, and white supremacy, and... just a whole slew of disgusting stuff. World religions is both a system that... sucks. It just is. And it is also a system that we are stuck with, and in. at the same time people are doing amazing, incredible, life-affirming work IN the sucky, imperialist system that is religion.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:HISTORY OF THE WORLD (RELIGIONS), like history of the world, is really... it's really just a conversation about power, who gets to wield it, and how we make sense of ourselves within this messy, messy system.
Megan Goodwin:Yeah. Alright, time to move on to A Little Bit Leave It!
A Little Bit Leave It:*A Little Bit Leave It*
Megan Goodwin:Where we're letting you know what we think the most important, most interesting, or most challenging part of the topic is. It is a little bit to leave you with. My
A Little Bit Leave It for today:the real history is the religion we made along the way? Question mark?
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:*laughs*
Megan Goodwin:That's it. That's all I've got.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:*laughs*
Megan Goodwin:You can't you can't think about history without thinking about religion... period, the end... thrice.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Alright, well, you have been very good.
Megan Goodwin:Thank you!
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:So, I suppose that I will leave you, Megan-- and just by proxy, all of our listeners-- with the notion that if you hold onto spite long enough, it becomes a 17-episode season long runner. It is, in fact, grant supported spite.
Megan Goodwin:YEEESSS! The dream.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:So, here's to you, Mrs. Wieznowski, who failed my 5th grade book report on an import-- I quote!--"an important person in Jewish history," because I insisted it be on Mel Brooks and not her choice for me, Eliazer You have all reaped the benefit of Ben-Yehuda.
Megan Goodwin:*cracks up* my 10 year old sense of outrage. May it never be forgotten or released. Pre-adolescent ourage? I feel like it's supernova level. It could-- it could solve the energy crisis. That's... so beautiful.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:I am literally powered by spite and painkillers.
Megan Goodwin:Sure are. Sure are!
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Well, let's, uh... If You Don't Know, Now You Know!
If You Don't Know, Now You Know:*If You Don't Know, Now You Know*
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:This is the segment where we get one factoid each. Megan, hit me up. Go for it.
Megan Goodwin:Okay, I shall. My-- my factoid has, uh, at least on its surface, absolutely nothing to do with religion. But we know, don't we, that all history of the world has to do with religion. So, I learned in reading Mel Brooks biography, autobiography, memoir-- It's All About Me-- because you were obsessed with it. I was like, I need to know about this. So I learned, in this book, so very many things. But among them is that Max Brooks is Mel Brooks' son, and Max Brooks is the author of the Zombie Survival Guide, which was an early tome in the early aughts obsession with zombies, which I actually gave to my current spouse when I was leaving for grad school because I didn't think I was gonna see them ever again. And that worked out differently. But also, I will say that if you think zombies are not about religion, uhhhhh, you should check out Kelly J. Baker, because she will teach you
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst: Totally. Alright, my factoid is when Mel Brooks won the academy award for the Producers-- frankly, one of the best comedies ever written-- he said, quote, "I'll just say what's in my heart: Ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump." And then he said thank you to Gene Wilder, the star of that film, thrice. In a row. So, in the spirit of Mel, I would like to use my time in this segment to say thank you, thank you, thank you to:Akissi Britton, Fadeke Castor, Jolyon Thomas, Abel Gomez, Simran Jeet Singh, Arun Brambhatt, Shreena Nikita Gandhi, Dheepa Sundaram, Hussein Rashid, Kristian Petersen, Debra Majeed, Jorge Rodriguez V, Shari Rabin, Yujin Chen, Tom Borhcert, Kay-nez Amaria, and Andrew Aghapour. This season was genius, if I don't say so myself, because we did it together. different. The end!
Megan Goodwin:Yeah. Anne Lamott says the two best prayers she knows are "help me, help me, help me" and "thank you, thank you, thank you." And boy, did they help us and boy, are we grateful. So. Go team! Don't pack up your stuff yet, nerds. It's time for-- homework!
Simpsons:*Homework!*
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Alright. Do my man Mel Brooks his honor. Please go watch History of the World, Part 1. Listen to the classic 2000 year old man bit with Carl Reiner. Rewatch Spaceballs because it's better than Star Wars.
Megan Goodwin:Oh. *laughs*
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Marvel over the fever dream that is Young Frankenstein. Critique the shit out of-- but also enjoy-- Blazing Saddles. And watch the original Producers-- which, beat for beat, truly, one of the funniest things ever written. Also, read "All About Me," Mel's recent memoir, which Megan rightfully said I was obsessed with because it's everything I wanted, but for us academics, it's also really, like, a lovely love letter to collaboration, writing, and research-- yes, research! I said it, research-- and joy. I think the thing that comes
Megan Goodwin:Yeah. through in that is that writing, and researching, and working with his friends was nothing but joyful. So, uh, in the spirit of this podcast, high recommend.*laughs* I also want to point out that Sid Ceasar hung him out a window.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Oh, I didn't say it wasn't filled with antics and crazy people! I just said it was also about joy because that story is not told as like, "Hey, I was horribly abused." It was like, "I love this man, this was hilarious."
Megan Goodwin:I know. I have concerns. But, yes. Joyful collaboration 100%. Homework wise, I'm gonna recommend
"Dracula:Dead and Loving It" for all of us, because I haven't seen it and y'all know I love vampire. Otherwise, your homework for the rest of time, frankly, is naps. Take naps. The end.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Before we sign off today, a quick note about what's next for us, nerds!
Megan Goodwin:Yay!
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:We are taking a summer hiatus.
Megan Goodwin:Whew!
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Please insert a clap track. *laughs*
Megan Goodwin:*laughs*
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:When we return in Fall of 2022, we will be funded by a grant I just won---- AND working on episodes for a NEW
Megan Goodwin:Yeah, you did!*drumming on desk* YES! year-long season. So, let me give you some foley work.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Half of our episodes will be part of a series we're calling"INCORRECT!," where we aim to right the wrong understandings about very specific issues in religion. And, half will be part of a series that we're going to call "So Glad You Asked!," where we field listener questions.
Megan Goodwin:Yeah! I am really excited for this hybrid season, and getting to, honestly, interact with our nerds in a more direct and, like, dialogic way! So, stay tuned for how to get involved by following us-- obviously-- on the Twitters and the Instagram.
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Shoutout to our research assistant, Alex Castellano, whose transcription work this WHOLE YEAR made this pod accessible, and therefore awesome.
Megan Goodwin:We love you, Alex! We want you to stay with us forever, but also, we want you to graduate and become a fully actualized adult human! Kick ass. *sighs* You can find Megan-- that's me-- on Twitter@mpgPhD, and Ilyse @ProfIRMF, or the show @keepingit_101. Find the website at keepingit101.com. Peep the Insta if you wanna, and rate us-- nope. Yes. Well, drop us a rating or review in your podcatcher of choice. And, with that...
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst:Peace out, nerds!
Megan Goodwin:And do your homework! It's on the syllabus.*outro music* This season, we were delighted and honored to have Dr. Debra Majeed join us for our second episode on Islam. She graciously accepted our invitation, even as she challenged us to expand our understanding of expertise, insisting there are many valid ways of knowing. Dr. Majeed died this past March. She is mourned, missed, and beloved by many. And Ilyse and I were so sorry to hear of her passing. We remain grateful for her voice, her generosity, and her scholarship. We thought it only appropriate to let Dr. Majeed have the last word this season.
Dr. Debra Majeed:My name is Debra Majeed, and I study gender and Island with a particular focus on family law issues. I've also started a nonprofit called the Muslim Family Advocacy Project. I care that neighbors, colleagues, family, and friends know about what I'm passionate about to expand their awareness of the lived realities of Muslim women and the complex and rich dynamics of Muslim family life in the US. Muslim women are often viewed and projected within the narrow prism of victimhood. While some women-- far too many-- are marginalized and impoverished largely on the basis of gender, others of us are leaders of nations, states, corporations, and religious authorities in our own mosque! Our experiences as Muslim women are not the same, nor are we monolithic in thought or practices. Still, wherever we are, we remain central to the fabric of the global community of faith and, in the US, American Muslim life.